And I do mean "evens" since the Cougars took an 11-point win tonight, 80-69, exactly matching the Gladiators' 11-point win the first time around. In fact the two games were mirror images of one another, making you wonder what would happen if there were a rubber match, but there can't be, since they compete in different conferences.
Just like Riverheads had done earlier, the Cougars came out blazing tonight, grabbed a big early lead and never trailed in the game. They built a huge, almost insurmountable lead in the second quarter, only to see Riverheads come back and make a respectable game out of it.
As we have said all along on here, Stuarts Draft's fate on any given night is going to depend on how well they shoot from three-point range. So when they hit their first two within the first 30 seconds of the game, it did not look good for RHS and it got worse before it got better.
The Cougars continued to rain triples while their trapping defense gave Riverheads fits in the early part of the game. As a result, the Draft led 26-8 after one quarter and stretched it out to 36-12 midway through the second.
However, just before halftime RHS adjusted to the pace as the Gladiators started to play even with the home team. They cut that 24 point advantage back down to 18 by half (42-24) and you could tell that the Big Red would make at least an effort to get back in the game.
The third quarter margin fluctuated between 17 and 22 and ended with the Draft in front 64-44. By that time, play was getting a little ragged and the officials were starting to lose control of it. It never really got that bad, and in fact, considering the pace they probably did a pretty good job. But I do have to mention one sequence that I would love to hear them explain.
Jamal Simpson was trying to make a play under his own basket. Whistles blew and one ref signaled an offensive foul on him and another called him for traveling. The two of them conferred right there on the spot but could not reach a decision, so they called in the third guy who had been clear across the court away from the play. So after their three-way conference they finally settled on a call that they would stick with.......a foul on Riverheads' Zach Roberts. Yep, that makes sense!
Anyway, as the 4th quarter started, the smart money might have been on the Cougars' being able to extend their 20-point lead and make it truly a runaway due to their depth and Riverheads' fatigue (15 constantly-rotating players against 10 you know). But to the Big Red's credit, they kept plugging away and in fact scored the first 7 points of the quarter to trim the lead to 13. SD stemmed the tide temporarily but Riverheads kept charging and got the margin down to 9 at 73-64, and had the ball for at least one possession with a chance to cut it to 6 or 7.
Somewhere during that final stretch, a technical was called and the signal indicated that it was against RHS' Coach Coffey. However some folks were saying that it was actually called on a fan. I was just not close enough to have an opinion. At any rate, the Cougars closed out the game, mainly from the foul line.
Simpson was quite likely the high scorer but Luke Rodgers also drained a number of threes. Opposing fans can count their blessings that those two were among the eight seniors that the Cougars said goodbye to on Senior Night. By the way this is a good time to mention that the Lady Gladiators celebrated their Senior Night with a buzzer-beating upset over the Cougars down at Riverheads. I don't know any more details about that one.
For RHS tonight, Roberts led the way with 26 points, followed by 15 each from Graham Cash and sophomore Harrison Schaefer, the latter being a career-high. Tripp Agnor rounded out the Gladiator scoring leaders with 10 as that foursome accounted for 66 of their 69 points. It was an unusual night in that all 10 Gladiators played in the game, but only six dented the scoring column. In the prior game at Riverheads, they had scored 84, with incredible balance, including six in double figures and another with 8.
Stuarts Draft prevailed in the JV game also as they employed the same general style of offense. However, their extreme dedication to the three-pointer almost cost them the game. The first half had been fairly even with Draft taking a 6-point lead into the locker room. They were then able to stretch that out to an 11-point advantage, 38-27, at the end of three.
But Riverheads caught its second wind as the Gladiators scored six quick points on a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays within the first minute of the final quarter and suddenly it was 38-33. At that point, SD might have been wise to be more selective in its shots or go to a delay game of some sort.
Instead they kept jacking up threes, some of them coming from impossible range, but they were missing all of them. RHS unfortunately was having its own offensive woes during that Cougar cold stretch, but they still managed to trim the lead all the way down to 40-39 and actually had the go-ahead basket about 80% down inside the cylinder before it decided to pop back out.
After that, SD finally connected on a three to move back out to a four-point lead and they held on to win 47-41. But if Riverheads could have hit a couple more buckets, this one could have been a case of "live by the three......." I heard unofficially that Bradley Roberts led Riverheads with 14 points.
The Gladiators now have their Senior Night Monday against Luray and they will try to duplicate what the girls' team pulled off tonight. The Cougars have two more games before playoff action as they will host Waynesboro Monday and travel to East Rock on Tuesday.
Just like Riverheads had done earlier, the Cougars came out blazing tonight, grabbed a big early lead and never trailed in the game. They built a huge, almost insurmountable lead in the second quarter, only to see Riverheads come back and make a respectable game out of it.
As we have said all along on here, Stuarts Draft's fate on any given night is going to depend on how well they shoot from three-point range. So when they hit their first two within the first 30 seconds of the game, it did not look good for RHS and it got worse before it got better.
The Cougars continued to rain triples while their trapping defense gave Riverheads fits in the early part of the game. As a result, the Draft led 26-8 after one quarter and stretched it out to 36-12 midway through the second.
However, just before halftime RHS adjusted to the pace as the Gladiators started to play even with the home team. They cut that 24 point advantage back down to 18 by half (42-24) and you could tell that the Big Red would make at least an effort to get back in the game.
The third quarter margin fluctuated between 17 and 22 and ended with the Draft in front 64-44. By that time, play was getting a little ragged and the officials were starting to lose control of it. It never really got that bad, and in fact, considering the pace they probably did a pretty good job. But I do have to mention one sequence that I would love to hear them explain.
Jamal Simpson was trying to make a play under his own basket. Whistles blew and one ref signaled an offensive foul on him and another called him for traveling. The two of them conferred right there on the spot but could not reach a decision, so they called in the third guy who had been clear across the court away from the play. So after their three-way conference they finally settled on a call that they would stick with.......a foul on Riverheads' Zach Roberts. Yep, that makes sense!
Anyway, as the 4th quarter started, the smart money might have been on the Cougars' being able to extend their 20-point lead and make it truly a runaway due to their depth and Riverheads' fatigue (15 constantly-rotating players against 10 you know). But to the Big Red's credit, they kept plugging away and in fact scored the first 7 points of the quarter to trim the lead to 13. SD stemmed the tide temporarily but Riverheads kept charging and got the margin down to 9 at 73-64, and had the ball for at least one possession with a chance to cut it to 6 or 7.
Somewhere during that final stretch, a technical was called and the signal indicated that it was against RHS' Coach Coffey. However some folks were saying that it was actually called on a fan. I was just not close enough to have an opinion. At any rate, the Cougars closed out the game, mainly from the foul line.
Simpson was quite likely the high scorer but Luke Rodgers also drained a number of threes. Opposing fans can count their blessings that those two were among the eight seniors that the Cougars said goodbye to on Senior Night. By the way this is a good time to mention that the Lady Gladiators celebrated their Senior Night with a buzzer-beating upset over the Cougars down at Riverheads. I don't know any more details about that one.
For RHS tonight, Roberts led the way with 26 points, followed by 15 each from Graham Cash and sophomore Harrison Schaefer, the latter being a career-high. Tripp Agnor rounded out the Gladiator scoring leaders with 10 as that foursome accounted for 66 of their 69 points. It was an unusual night in that all 10 Gladiators played in the game, but only six dented the scoring column. In the prior game at Riverheads, they had scored 84, with incredible balance, including six in double figures and another with 8.
Stuarts Draft prevailed in the JV game also as they employed the same general style of offense. However, their extreme dedication to the three-pointer almost cost them the game. The first half had been fairly even with Draft taking a 6-point lead into the locker room. They were then able to stretch that out to an 11-point advantage, 38-27, at the end of three.
But Riverheads caught its second wind as the Gladiators scored six quick points on a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays within the first minute of the final quarter and suddenly it was 38-33. At that point, SD might have been wise to be more selective in its shots or go to a delay game of some sort.
Instead they kept jacking up threes, some of them coming from impossible range, but they were missing all of them. RHS unfortunately was having its own offensive woes during that Cougar cold stretch, but they still managed to trim the lead all the way down to 40-39 and actually had the go-ahead basket about 80% down inside the cylinder before it decided to pop back out.
After that, SD finally connected on a three to move back out to a four-point lead and they held on to win 47-41. But if Riverheads could have hit a couple more buckets, this one could have been a case of "live by the three......." I heard unofficially that Bradley Roberts led Riverheads with 14 points.
The Gladiators now have their Senior Night Monday against Luray and they will try to duplicate what the girls' team pulled off tonight. The Cougars have two more games before playoff action as they will host Waynesboro Monday and travel to East Rock on Tuesday.
